Antibiotic Use and Stewardship Gaps among Fulani Women Vendors in Informal Dairy Markets, Northern Nigeria: A One Health Perspective

Antibiotic Use and Stewardship Gaps among Fulani Women Vendors in Informal Dairy Markets, Northern Nigeria: A One Health Perspective | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Antibiotic Use and Stewardship Gaps among Fulani Women Vendors in Informal Dairy Markets, Northern Nigeria: A One Health Perspective Muhammad Muhsin Fathuddin, Rafeedah Fathuddin, John Solomon Obidah, and 2 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9472430/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Objective To characterise knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) regarding antibiotic use among Fulani women milk vendors in Sabon Gari and Zaria, Nigeria, within a One Health framework Methods A cross-sectional survey of 77 itinerant Fulani women milk vendors employed a structured questionnaire adapted from validated KAP instruments for livestock producers. Items assessed vendor characteristics, antibiotic knowledge, attitudes towards antimicrobial use (AMU), practices, and self-reported use of 21 antibiotics. Data were analysed descriptively in SPSS (version 25). Knowledge and practice items were dichotomised (appropriate = 1, inappropriate/“don’t know”/missing = 0), converted to percentage scores, and categorised as good (≥ 80%), moderate (50–79%), or poor (< 50%). Attitudes were summarised as 7-point Likert means, with scores ≥ 4.0 interpreted as permissive. Findings: Vendors were exclusively itinerant traders, predominantly marketing fermented products ( nono, kindirmo ). Knowledge deficits were profound: 55.8% had heard of antibiotics, 31.2% recognised their action against bacteria, and none specified side-effects. Overall, 0% achieved good knowledge, 2.6% moderate, and 97.4% poor scores. The mean attitude score was 4.41, indicating uniformly permissive orientations. Practices were frequently unsafe: 59.7% routinely added antibiotics to feed or water, 45.5% retained leftovers, and 22.1% shared them, yielding 2.6% good, 26.0% moderate, and 71.4% poor practice scores. Conclusion Fulani women vendors in Zaria’s informal dairy markets exhibit profound knowledge deficits, permissive norms, and hazardous AMU behaviours, substantially shaping consumer exposure to antibiotic residues and resistant organisms. These findings underscore their importance as priority targets for gender-responsive One Health stewardship interventions. General Microbiology Food Science & Technology Preventive Medicine Antibiotic use antimicrobial stewardship Fulani women informal dairy markets One Health Nigeria Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Supplementary Files SupplementaryFile1Questionnaire.pdf Questionnaire Survey Form Regarding Antibiotic Usage SupplementaryFile2Responses.xlsx Raw Data Tables (Answer Sheets) SupplementaryFile3STROBEChecklist.pdf STROBE Statement—Checklist Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9472430","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":626361100,"identity":"59dbab9d-dee4-4a9b-8d56-931fe38d3f4b","order_by":0,"name":"Muhammad Muhsin Fathuddin","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA/klEQVRIiWNgGAWjYFACHgaGBAY5BgYJIOIxALEYGA48IKzFmIEHqsUYrCWBkBYGuBYGhsQGEB+fFt0ZuYc/PNxhIG8v3WN4403BnfT5YYcfAm2xk9NtwK7F7EZemkTiGQPDHpkzxpZzDJ7lbrydZgDUkmxsdgCXlhwzhsS2P4w9Ejlm0jwGh3M3zk4AaTmQuA23FuMPiW0G9jAt6Yaz0z8Q0mIgAdSSCNOSIC+dQ8CWM2/MQFqSe26kFQP9cthwg3ROwYEEAzx+OZ5j/PFnm4Ft+4zkjTfe/DksLz87ffOHDxV2cri0YAIDsEoDYpWDgHwDKapHwSgYBaNgJAAAMx5iYl7pVPwAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9948-4081","institution":"Ahmadu Bello University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Muhammad","middleName":"Muhsin","lastName":"Fathuddin","suffix":""},{"id":626361101,"identity":"4940ba80-8609-4845-8eb8-24cb3f0afe7c","order_by":1,"name":"Rafeedah Fathuddin","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6528-3089","institution":"B. 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Stewardship Gaps among Fulani Women Vendors in Informal Dairy Markets, Northern Nigeria: A One Health Perspective\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"Ahmadu Bello University","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research 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Items assessed vendor characteristics, antibiotic knowledge, attitudes towards antimicrobial use (AMU), practices, and self-reported use of 21 antibiotics. Data were analysed descriptively in SPSS (version 25). Knowledge and practice items were dichotomised (appropriate\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;1, inappropriate/\u0026ldquo;don\u0026rsquo;t know\u0026rdquo;/missing\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0), converted to percentage scores, and categorised as good (\u0026ge;\u0026thinsp;80%), moderate (50\u0026ndash;79%), or poor (\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;50%). Attitudes were summarised as 7-point Likert means, with scores\u0026thinsp;\u0026ge;\u0026thinsp;4.0 interpreted as permissive.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eFindings:\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eVendors were exclusively itinerant traders, predominantly marketing fermented products (\u003cem\u003enono, kindirmo\u003c/em\u003e). Knowledge deficits were profound: 55.8% had heard of antibiotics, 31.2% recognised their action against bacteria, and none specified side-effects. Overall, 0% achieved good knowledge, 2.6% moderate, and 97.4% poor scores. The mean attitude score was 4.41, indicating uniformly permissive orientations. Practices were frequently unsafe: 59.7% routinely added antibiotics to feed or water, 45.5% retained leftovers, and 22.1% shared them, yielding 2.6% good, 26.0% moderate, and 71.4% poor practice scores.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eConclusion\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eFulani women vendors in Zaria\u0026rsquo;s informal dairy markets exhibit profound knowledge deficits, permissive norms, and hazardous AMU behaviours, substantially shaping consumer exposure to antibiotic residues and resistant organisms. These findings underscore their importance as priority targets for gender-responsive One Health stewardship interventions.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Antibiotic Use and Stewardship Gaps among Fulani Women Vendors in Informal Dairy Markets, Northern Nigeria: A One Health Perspective","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-04-21 11:34:34","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9472430/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"daed7acc-5b4a-481e-972a-e814dcd141f4","owner":[],"postedDate":"April 21st, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":66662578,"name":"General Microbiology"},{"id":66662579,"name":"Food Science \u0026 Technology"},{"id":66662580,"name":"Preventive Medicine"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-04-21T11:34:35+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-04-21 11:34:34","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-9472430","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-9472430","identity":"rs-9472430","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}